Pentium Silver A1030 vs i7-8550U
Primary details
Comparing Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1462 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | Intel Core i7 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 24.29 | no data |
| Architecture codename | Kaby Lake Refresh (2017−2019) | no data |
| Release date | 21 August 2017 (7 years ago) | 1 July 2020 (4 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $409 | no data |
Detailed specifications
Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 4 (Quad-Core) | 2 (Dual-core) |
| Threads | 8 | 2 |
| Base clock speed | 1.8 GHz | 2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4 GHz | 2.7 GHz |
| Bus type | OPI | no data |
| Bus rate | 4 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | 18 | no data |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | no data |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | no data |
| L3 cache | 8 MB (shared) | 4 MB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 14 nm |
| Die size | 123 mm2 | no data |
| Maximum core temperature | 100 °C | 105 deg C |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 72 °C | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | no data |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 1 (Uniprocessor) | 1 |
| Socket | FCBGA1356,FC-BGA1356 | FCBGA1090 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 15 Watt | 15 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 | Intel® SSE4.2 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | - |
| vPro | no data | - |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | + | - |
| My WiFi | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | - |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | - |
| Idle States | + | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | + |
| Flex Memory Access | + | no data |
| Smart Response | + | - |
| GPIO | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | no data | - |
Security technologies
Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | - | no data |
| EDB | + | + |
| Secure Key | + | + |
| MPX | - | + |
| Identity Protection | + | + |
| SGX | Yes with Intel® ME | Yes with Intel® ME |
| OS Guard | + | + |
| Anti-Theft | no data | - |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | + | - |
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4 | upto-2400 |
| Maximum memory size | 32 GB | 8 GB |
| Max memory channels | 2 | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 38.397 GB/s | no data |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Intel UHD Graphics 620 | no data |
| Max video memory | 32 GB | 8 GB |
| Quick Sync Video | + | + |
| Clear Video | + | no data |
| Clear Video HD | + | no data |
| Graphics max frequency | 1.15 GHz | 700 GHz |
| Execution Units | no data | 12 |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 integrated GPUs.
| Number of displays supported | 3 | 3 |
| eDP | + | + |
| DisplayPort | + | + |
| HDMI | + | + |
| DVI | + | no data |
| MIPI-DSI | no data | + |
Graphics image quality
Maximum display resolutions supported by Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.
| 4K resolution support | + | + |
| Max resolution over HDMI 1.4 | 4096 x 2304@24Hz | no data |
| Max resolution over eDP | 4096 x 2304@60Hz | no data |
| Max resolution over DisplayPort | 4096 x 2304@60Hz | no data |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | 12 | 12 |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | 4.4 |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 12 | 6 |
| USB revision | no data | 2.0/3.0 |
| Total number of SATA ports | no data | 2 |
| Max number of SATA 6 Gb/s Ports | no data | 2 |
| Number of USB ports | no data | 8 |
| Integrated LAN | no data | - |
| UART | no data | + |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 21 August 2017 | 1 July 2020 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 2 |
| Threads | 8 | 2 |
i7-8550U has 100% more physical cores and 300% more threads.
Pentium Silver A1030, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years.
We couldn't decide between Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions on choice between Core i7-8550U and Pentium Silver A1030, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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